X Factor winner Joe McElderry has slipped to the number two spot in the download charts and is currently being beaten by Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name Of.’

A Facebook and Twitter campaign has pushed for the public to download the classic rock track, in a bid to stop the X Factor taking Christmas number one again.

The RATM campaign began with a Facebook group which asked: “Fed up of Simon Cowell’s latest karaoke act being Christmas No 1? Me too… So who’s up for a mass-purchase of the track Killing In The Name as a protest to the X Factor monotony?”

The Official Charts Company said this was “the fiercest battle for years” for the Christmas chart. They also revealed that presently the RATM track is leading the battle by 7%.

However all is not lost. Joe’s cd single will hit the music shops shelves tomorrow, which should boost his sales considerably.

Gennaro Castaldo of HMV said: “Whilst it’s true that, since Sunday night, quite a few more fans have been downloading the Rage track from HMV’s digital music store off the back of the internet campaign, we believe this trend will be reversed in a big way once the physical CD single of Joe’s The Climb officially goes on sale in stores from tomorrow.”